This invention relates to operating centers for monitoring and/or controlling the operation of plants, processes and systems of an industrial or commercial nature and to methods of building such operating centers. Though not limited thereto, the present invention is particularly useful in connection with electric power generating plants and stations.
Various industrial and commercial plants, processes and systems employ operating centers which are equipped with various instruments and mechanisms for monitoring or controlling the operation of the plant, process or system or a major portion thereof. Where control functions are involved, such functions may be automatic, semi-automatic or manual in nature. Typically, the operating center receives a relatively large number of signals and messages indicating various conditions at various points in the plant, process or system. These signals and messages are processed at the operating center and the intelligence gained therefrom is used to evaluate and, where appropriate, to modify or alter the operation of the plant, process or system or, in the case of some types of systems, the status or condition of objects which are influenced or affected by the system. Typically, such operating centers employ rather complex electrical and electronics equipment for processing the incoming signals and transmitting the appropriate information and instructions to other parts of the plant, process or system. For the more sophisticated applications, such control equipment frequently includes various digital data processing and digital computer equipment.
Examples of plants, processes and systems which may employ operating centers of the foregoing type are: electrical power generating plants, chemical plants, oil refineries, sewage treatment plants, electrical power transmission systems, pipeline transportation systems, railroad systems, aircraft traffic control systems, telephone systems, radio communications systems, data processing systems and weather forecasting systems. These examples represent only a few of the more common situations in which operating centers are employed and the foregoing is not intended to be a complete listing of all such situations.
In the past, operating centers which employ complex electrical and electronics equipment have typically been constructed by first erecting at the industrial or commercial installtion site a suitable building structure for housing the electrical and electronics equipment. After the operating center building is erected, the various cabinets, panels and other units which contain the electrical and electronics equipment are transported to the installation site and installed in the operating center building. After the various cabinets, panels and other units are properly mounted and bolted down, they are then inter-wired and interconnected with one another to form a complete set of control system equipment within the operating center building. The control system equipment is thereafter tested to determine that all the proper interconnections have been made and that the equipment is operating as desired. Any necessary adjustments or calibrations of the equipment are made at this time.
With complex electrical and electronics equipment, a considerable amount of inter-wiring and testing is normally required. As a consequence, the on-site installation time is rather lengthy and a considerable amount of labor and effort is expended at the installation site. Also, where the operating center is installed at a rather remote location or in a relatively harsh environment, the installation and testing is frequently done under less than ideal conditions.
In contrast thereto, the present invention employs prefabrication and modular construction techniques which reduces the on-site installation time and cost to a minimum. Such techniques enable the extensive inter-wiring and testing of the control system equipment to be done under more ideal and efficient conditions at a properly equipped and properly staffed manufacturing location or factory site. Such techniques enable the realization of prepackaged and pretested modular operating centers which can be installed and made ready to go in much less time and which much less expenditure of labor at the installation site.
The present invention is of particular significance in connection with the construction of large scale electric power generating plants of the kind used by electric utility companies for generating the electricity supplied to their various residential, commercial and industrial customers. Such power plants typically have a power generating capacity on the order of several hundred megawatts or more. In the past, it has typically taken somewhere on the order of four or five years of more from the time a utility company decides to build a new non-nuclear steam type power plant until the time the plant is completed and operating to produce electricity. This represents a rather substantial lead time. And it is even longer for the case of nuclear type power plants.
Applicants, however, are involved in the planning and implementation of a new pre-packaged modular approach to the construction of utility company power plants which will, in most cases, reduce this lead time to one-third or less of its previous value. This approach offers substantial reductions in construction costs. It also offers a faster solution to the present day problem of increasing energy shortages.
A significant factor in reducing the power plant construction time and cost results from the use of the present invention to reduce the time and cost involved in constructing, equipping, and putting into operation the operating center or control center which controls or runs the plant. In most cases, the operating center, complete with pre-installed and pre-tested control system equipment, can be delivered within about 12 months after order acceptance and it is possible, as far as the control system is concerned, to have the plant on line and producing electricity within 6 weeks after installation of the operating center building. Thus, the present invention contributes very substantially to the solution of a real and pressing problem in the electric utility industry.
Prefabricated and modular construction techniques have been heretofore used in various fields of endeavor, particularly in the residential housing field where such techniques have been used in the construction of residential dwellings and apartment buildings. Some very general aspects of these prior techniques are employed in connection with the present invention. Consequently, it is helpful by way of background information to consider some of the more pertinent prior art patents relating to the prefabricated and modular construction of building structures.
One of the earlier patents in this area is U.S. Pat. No. 1,995,573 granted to S. G. Matthews on Mar. 26, 1935 for a "Portable Building Unit." The Matthews patent describes the use of portable room-size building modules in constructing multi-unit single-story and multi-unit multi-story residential type building structures.
Another prior art patent is U.S. Pat. No. 2,795,014 granted to M. J. Kelly on June 11, 1957 for a "Complete Factory Produced Dwelling." The Kelly patent describes the construction of a one story residential dwelling by means of three factory produced transportable building modules which are hauled to the installation site and joined together to form the complete dwelling.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,709 granted to H. C. Bolt on Sept. 17, 1963 for "Building Structures" describes a collapsible type building unit which is hauled to the installation site in a collapsed condition. At the installation site, the unit is opened up and erected to form a room-size building structure. Several such erected structures can be joined together in a side-by-side fashion to provide an overall structure having a relatively large floor area.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,256,652 granted to C. Van Der Lely on June 21, 1966 for a "Building of Assembled Box-Shaped Elements" describes the use of a number of room-size box-shaped modules which are joined together at the installation site to form a residential type dwelling.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,633 granted to R. L. Ziegelman et al on Aug. 19, 1969 for a "Prefabricated Building Structure" describes the use of a plurality of room-size box-shaped building modules which are joined together at the installation site to form a complete building structure. Certain general aspects of the Ziegelman construction are employed in connection with the preferred embodiment of the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,540,173 granted to S. Jonnides on Nov. 17, 1970 for "Expandable, Transportable, Prefabricated Containerized Buildings" describes the use of box-shaped building modules wherein a first module includes a plurality of hinged panels which may be unfolded at the installation site to form a second module of the same size as the first module.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,609,929 granted to R. B. Brown et al on Oct. 5, 1971 for a "Prefabricated Building" describes the use of a plurality of C-shaped half modules or half boxes which can be transported to the installation site and joined together in various configurations to form multi-story residential type buildings.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,389 granted to W. S. Sheppley, Jr. on Feb. 22, 1972 for a "Modular Electrical Enclosure" describes the construction of a data processing center using a modular frame type of construction. Such data processing center is designed to house complex electrical and electronics data processing equipment.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,680,273 granted to F. E. Bigelow, Jr. on Aug. 1, 1972 for "Assembly of Collapsed Buildings for Shipping" describes the use of collapsible type room-size units which are opened up and joined together at the installation site to form a complete residential type structure. The customary residential type electrical wiring is installed in the wall panels of the individual units prior to shipment to the installation site.
With the exception of the Sheppley, Jr. patent, none of these prior art prefabricated building construction patents describe a building structure which was specifically intended for use in housing complex electrical and electronics equipment. While the Sheppley, Jr. patent does describe such a building structure, the modular technique described therein does not eliminate the need for the tedious and time consuming on-site installation and inter-wiring of the individual electrical and electronics equipment units in the building structure.
Another class of prior art which appears to be relevant to the present invention is represented by the apparatus described in a magazine article entitled "Megawatts On Wheels" and written by Messrs. C. E. Thompson, C. R. Boland and E. Burnstein. This technical article appeared in the March 1971 issue of Combustion at pages 24-30 thereof. This technical article describes a mobile electrical power generating plant which employs a pair of truck type tractor-trailer units. One trailer unit houses a gas turbine and electrical generator, while the other trailer unit houses the control panel, circuit breakers, voltage regulators, fuel controls and the like for the turbine and generator. This mobile power plant is intended primarily for emergency use. The trailers are hauled to the point of need and are deployed and connected up to the transmission lines of the diabled power system. Cables are run between the two trailer units to connect the gas turbine and generator in the first trailer to the control panel and other equipment in the second trailer. Thereafter, the gas turbine is started and the mobile power station supplies the needed electric power to the disabled power system.
A somewhat different type of mobile electrical equipment unit is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,652,806 granted to N. Nakagami et al on Mar. 28, 1972 for "Transportable Telephone Exchange Apparatus." The Nakagami et al patent describes a mobile telephone exchange which is housed in a truck trailer and which may be hauled to a disaster area or other area to provide a temporary telephone exchange.
The "Megawatts on Wheels" article and the Nakagami et al patent show that certain types of electrical and electronics systems have been heretofore arranged to be transported by truck trailers. This form of transportation can also be used in connection with the present invention. More particularly, the building modules used in the preferred embodiment of the present invention are designed so that they can, if desired, be transported by truck trailers. This technical article and this prior art patent, however, do not relate to the problem of constructing stationary type operating centers of control centers intended for long term use at a fixed location and, hence, fail to suggest the herein described novel solution to such problem.
The issued patents and the technical article discussed above were found during the course of a prior art investigation of reasonable scope and effort. They represent what applicants presently consider to be the best of the prior art presently known to them. No representation is made or intended, however, that better prior art does not exist. Nor is any representation made or intended that the foregoing interpretations are the only interpretations that can be places on these patents and this technical article.
As used in the present specification and claims, the term "operating center" is intended to include: (1) control center having only control apparatus for controlling the operation of the plant, process or system; (2) data monitoring and data logging centers having only data display, data read-out and recording type apparatus for providing visual, graphical and/or printed information concerning the operation of the plant, process or system; and (3) centers having both control and monitoring apparatus for providing both types of functions. Also for purposes of the present specification and claims, the term "control system equipment" is intended to include any of the various types of apparatus commonly associated with control systems and, as such, includes either control apparatus or monitoring apparatus or both.